Sure you,myself would have liked to have seen a 'clone' show from 69 in 1980 etc but the DEAD were continually playing and evolving unlike Cream which STOPPED in 68 at Royal Albert Hall and then 'resumed' at ROYAL ALBERT HALL. As a band their music hadnt evolved over the years it stopped in 68 then resumed in what was it 2005. So no evolution just basically resumed from where they left off. The sound WAS different but the arrangements were almost identical again no natural evolution and these guys didnt get along so the thought of them agreeing on new arrangement at this late date was basically not going to happen. Ginger Baker in particular had a distaste for playing with Jack Bruce always complaining he was too loud. So their only real option was play it the 'same' to avoid disagreement and cash the checks. I wouldnt be surprised if even Clapton did it for the money. More recently he's spoken about getting too old to tour but would play those high end corporate shows like aerosmith,etc. Play at a stockholder's meeting or for a corporate employee event for big bucks. You can complain all you want about how much the Dead made post 85/87 but they still had a lot of employees at GDP that were well(overpaid) compensated plus they continued to spend a fortune on sound quality right up until the end. Experimenting with 'beam' speakers to get accurate sonic fields at ALL locations in the venue. Meyer sound, ultra sound took a big hit when Garcia died and the fall tour was canceled and the future was unknown. The DEAD were dream clients for audio companies that were on the edge of inovation etc. They had a BIG client that would finance their experiments with new equipment etc i've spewed enough. good night. by the way I still have my laminate for cream at the Garden. I worked one of the follow spots.

To my ears (and feet), The Seven at times sounds quite a bit like some of the time signatures the Dead played with in Lovelight (especially during the jam after the first verse/chorus).

It's all good but Bobby is really working it, at least for the first half. Juicy.

3

What a gem. Not played for almost a year and never with the full band until now. And they basically jump into from a standing stop. There was only one more played about six months later.

I'd love to hear Furthur take a crack at this one.

Why worry about the quality of a show when there isn't another one in circulation? The fact that we have this example is great. The vocal problem could be explained by the taper being too close to the band and the vocals coming through the PA's speakers, which are usually a few rows away from the stage. Anyone who has sat up front at a show, especially in a club has experienced the vocals being behind them. The cuts and drop out etc are all a part of the tape. We have been spoiled by so many great shows, of outstanding quality, that maybe we forget about what tape collecting was like in the '70's and later. Radio broadcasts copied so many times, that the hiss and low levels made for shows that didn't sound great, but it was all we had, and I know I played the shit out of them. So for me I'm just please that this example is here until another one comes out.

no... i wasnt. my spirit is there now, blown away by _this_historical_moment_in_time

came in for some dead, and stayed

must have /agree

Boy, that guy beneath this is smart! (I got a new e-mail address.)

But seriously, you newbies should remove your shoes. This is hallowed ground.

Live/Dead had been recorded seven months prior, and the band was already moving in new directions (Workingman's). But their psychedelic chops were as hot as ever, as evidenced by this night and the next.

Cafe au Go Go was a tiny (400 seat), famous (Lenny Bruce arrests for obscenity) club in Manhattan's Greenwich Village.

History was made this night. I can find a total of only two times they played "The Seven," and one of those wasn't even the complete band (Mickey and The Hartbeats).

Bottom line: you should record this and make copies for your friends and neighbors.

Give me a second while I climb onto my soapbox.

There should be only two tracks here, because the band stopped only once: between Good Lovin' and St. Stephen. Listen to the amazing segue from The Seven into Good Lovin'. Listen to it the way they played it. You can't - not unless you have a 40-plus-year-old copy on cassette or reel-to-reel.

Anybody know of a better Doin' That Rag?

I've said this before, and I'll say it again. Thanks to this archive and the likes of Charlie Miller, we are all spoiled - sound-quaility-wise. Back in the day, when we collected tapes (cassettes), sound quality was important, but getting the performances (relatively) uncut was just as, if not more, important. And MOST important of all was getting songs not available on vinyl - like a live performance of Doin' That Rag into The Seven into Good Lovin' (into Saint Stephen into The Eleven). So come along as I travel back in time 37 years, and then we'll leap even further back in time.

It's 1974, I'm 17 years old and I've quietly entered the house. It's the wee hours of the morning, and the rest of the family are asleep. It will be several hours till I can sleep, of course, because there are still several hundred micograms of acid swirling in my brain. So I slip on the headphones, snap in a cassette and press play...lay down in the dark...and am transported back in time. Five whole years! There's no time to whine about the poor sound quality, I'm too busy marveling at the miracle of time travel!

I saw a neighbor I haven't seen in ten years the other day. "What happened to the motorcycle?" he asked. "And your hair! You used to have more hair!"

"You lose one," I told him, "and then you lose the other."

We are all time travelers.

This show's a little diamond-in-the-rough. The sound's a bit hard going and the vocals can be washed out at points but still well worth a listen.
The Good Lovin' is only so-so but the rest is dynamite especially 7 which is out of this world. Off it goes to the way-under-played-Dead-song graveyard along with Clementine and Believe it or Not.

phleshy and bassisbest nailed this one...just read what they have to say about this historic dead moment. certainly a mystery why this song wasn't expanded upon. the sound quality does leave something to be desired, but listen to it on a good pair of headphones and let jer's leads in this one-of-a-kind dead jam take you away!

Explain with serious thought why the grateful dead couldn't come remotely close to that sound they had in 69-70 towards the end.
Cream for instance just had their reunion thing in London. Of which, I thought was only lacking the old amps and enthuisiasm.
It would've been nice before dying someday that I could say I heard history rather than watching 5 or however many people with same vices looking withdrawl like playing tired new age sounding shit. That for all things considered is depressing.

The Seven is my latest favorite along with Mr.Charlie from 8-6-71. I recommend listening to both.

Given the level of technology shown in the lineage (and in other notes on other shows), I don't understand why EQ was not applied digitally to this recording.

I remember being too poor to avoid a tape any better than Maxell UD, but it's sad that that happens to be the best version of this show. It's hard to underestimate the lack of musical response of a UD cassette - designed for voice dictation only.

Given that, and the overwhelming brightness that is no doubt the result of the Dolby B encoding, it is really necessary to EQ this, with a large take down of the area roughly at 3khz. A corresponding peak around 300-400 hz gives some warmth that is otherwise lacking.

The only saving grace of the recording itself is the surprisingly good mix, especially for an audience recording. It's baffling as to what happened to the vocals - it might have just been a fault of the cafe sound guy at the gig.

The good mix means that the recording can be used as snapshot of what happened that night. However, like most poor audience recordings, it is hard to enjoy listening - it's just an academic exercise.

Now, as far as the performance itself goes, yes the Seven is pretty good, especially in the last few minutes where everyone gets on the same page. However, it is ultimately "one-dimensional" in the sense that it's all based on the breathtaking speed of it all.. and that's it.

If a version pops up later without the Maxell UD generation, it might be worth revisiting, but otherwise I'd have to rate this "academic interest only" - especially in light of the hundreds of other shows here at the Archive.

Once in a while, in the annals of Grateful Dead history, the boys deliver an absolutely mind-blowing jam when you least expect it. Jams falling into this category would be the 5/21/74 PITB, the 7/27/73 Jam>Wharf Rat, and the 12/6/73 DS. The Seven is such an amazing jam that I'll give 5 stars for that alone (although everything else is very good, even the ill-fated Doin' that Rag). I won't add anything to what the reviewer below me says, since this version of the Seven is easily the best circulating version of only 4 known to have been played. Why it wasn't developed further has to be one of the great mysteries in GD lore.

As for the sound quality, why complain? The AUD is quite acceptable, IMO. It sounded great on an old tape I had years ago and sounds even better now. Would you rather not have this piece of history on record? Download immediately.

I have been listening to this night on an old cassette for 20 years (thought to be at the Action House, Long Beach LI). And unfortunately the sound on this recording may be the worst of the whole 67-69 psychodelic period. Vocals are 90% missing. But this may still be one the most important nights to download because of "The Seven". As it is a jam, missing vocals aren't an issue. But friends, believe me, IMHO this may be their greatest jam of the whole 67-69 period. I may be wrong, but this is the only recording of "The Seven" with the full band (see Mickey and the Hartbeats Oct 68). It is mindblowing from the first note segueing out of "Doing that Rag" to the last note marching into "Good Loving". Not one bad note from anyone.

You'll find great versions of St Stephen>Eleven etc. dozens of other times. But this is the only version "The Seven" and it is perfect! Why this jam was never a staple of 1968-69 is amazing.

Better check a sample before download...I for one could not listen to it.

shitty sound 4 is only a reflection of the music played and the great setlist but that cant be the whole so at least i hope not

Tipped off about the 7 jam in the Compendium Vol. 1. Always a fan of inspiring GD improv., Garcia and the boys definitely sound manic and snakey, playing with unbridlled compassion and intensity. Summation= The GD hat IT on this night in Brooklyn, NY. and this jam reflects IT.